World's Largest Ball Of Paint
The most important thing about creating a big ball of paint is to work at it every day as often as you can," says Mike Carmichael, who started painting a baseball 25 years ago and never stopped. The "world's largest ball of paint" now has more than 17,000 layers of paint and weighs over 900 lbs.
Carmichael began his baseball-painting career by accident back in high school. An errant baseball throw knocked over a gallon of paint and covered the ball in blue paint. The next day Mike painted it again and again and yet again. By the end of high school the ball was covered in 1,000 layers of paint and was the size of a basketball. When he graduated he donated that first ball to the local historical society. But he soon started another.
The current ball of paint has been accumulating its colorful layers since 1977. It even has its own room in the family's house. In order to easily coat the entire ball, Carmichael drilled a hole through the center and suspended it from the ceiling. Over the last 25 years, whenever he or his family had a few moments they would put on another layer of paint. "We'd also try to have every 100th layer painted by a Guest of Honor," he says. Some of the guests have included city officials or tourists who came to see the growing work of art.
Mike also gets hundreds of email requests to paint a layer in honor of someone. The name or names are written and dated on a layer. To date he has painted over 17,000 layers in over twenty colors.
Carmichael's plan is to build a store and museum to house the ever-increasing ball of paint; "We've got to do something. It will hardly get through the door, it's gotten so big. I hope everyone can see it," Carmichael says, noting that a documentary film crew is working on a film about the ball of paint and Carmichael's efforts to attract tourists called, "Roadside Ambition."
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, (website: www.ballofpaint.com).
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World's Largest Ball Of Paint AG WORLD 27-5-23 The most important thing about creating a big ball of paint is to work at it every day as often as you can," says Mike Carmichael, who started painting a baseball 25 years ago and never stopped. The "world's largest ball of paint" now has more than 17,000 layers of paint and weighs over 900 lbs.
Carmichael began his baseball-painting career by accident back in high school. An errant baseball throw knocked over a gallon of paint and covered the ball in blue paint. The next day Mike painted it again and again and yet again. By the end of high school the ball was covered in 1,000 layers of paint and was the size of a basketball. When he graduated he donated that first ball to the local historical society. But he soon started another.
The current ball of paint has been accumulating its colorful layers since 1977. It even has its own room in the family's house. In order to easily coat the entire ball, Carmichael drilled a hole through the center and suspended it from the ceiling. Over the last 25 years, whenever he or his family had a few moments they would put on another layer of paint. "We'd also try to have every 100th layer painted by a Guest of Honor," he says. Some of the guests have included city officials or tourists who came to see the growing work of art.
Mike also gets hundreds of email requests to paint a layer in honor of someone. The name or names are written and dated on a layer. To date he has painted over 17,000 layers in over twenty colors.
Carmichael's plan is to build a store and museum to house the ever-increasing ball of paint; "We've got to do something. It will hardly get through the door, it's gotten so big. I hope everyone can see it," Carmichael says, noting that a documentary film crew is working on a film about the ball of paint and Carmichael's efforts to attract tourists called, "Roadside Ambition."
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, (website: www.ballofpaint.com).
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